Candle
by multiply014
Summary: CoAi Week Day 7: AU. She closes her eyes and wishes she wouldn't feel this alone anymore. [CoAi] [ShinShi]
1. Wish I

**A/N** _It's the final day of CoAi Week. I'm both sad (I'll miss the flood of CoAi goodness!) and happy (finally, the prompts are ending! XD) but this has been an experience._

 _This piece is the longest I've written. I will be queueing the parts (six and then an epilogue), and I hope you enjoy reading them! Will only tell which AU this is on the sixth part (otherwise you'll guess what happens easily then!), if you can't guess it by the first one! XD_

 _Also, tried to write this as crack, but I think 'twas not meant to be..._

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Wish I**

It's Miyano Shiho's birthday today. She's been waiting for this day; she'll see her sister again after what feels like forever. But she's on her third cup of coffee and Akemi still hasn't come. They won't let Shiho call her. She's worried sick, but she blames the too-quick beating of her heart to coffee. As long as she's here, they won't hurt her sister, and she's been nothing but obedient. As long as she gets results. And she does. No use worrying since when her sister does come and she sees, Akemi will just tease her that the only thing she gains every year is a wrinkle.

The waitress approaches her table, but Shiho only acknowledges her when she speaks. Holding a strawberry shortcake, the waitress greets her a happy birthday. She further explains that Akemi told them to give her the cake if she's over three hours late. Shiho thanks the waitress and only then realizes the time. She'll have to go soon.

She stares at the candle on the cake. It's been a long time since she's felt so heavy. She closes her eyes and wishes she wouldn't feel this alone anymore. But she won't let her sister know she's moping, so she bites her lip, shuts lonely Shiho inside and opens her eyes. She plasters a smile on her face. It's a cute cake, and her sister made sure to add a tiny chocolate cartoon puppy detail. The smile becomes easier to keep.

It's half past six. She closes her eyes again takes a deep breath and blows the candle. She opens her eyes. She places the cake carefully on the table, but she feels a hard stare. She looks to her left and she almost jumps—she hadn't felt anything up until now and the man who was staring was standing right next to her table. Gin would be disappointed. She shrugs off the thought.

"Excuse me?" She never liked being stared at, but she isn't one to fold. Especially not today.

The man keeps staring at her like she's grown another head. He's about her age, taller than average, and looks better than average if he weren't so creepy, staring like that, she thinks. But he has questionable fashion, she adds, because who wears a bright blue suit with a bright red bowtie in this restaurant? Perhaps a performer, or a cosplayer with that almost comical cowlick and that...

Feeling uncomfortable, her gaze travels back to his face, and their eyes lock for a second. She doesn't like it. But she doesn't turn away. "If you value your normal life, leave. I am not interested." She turns and forces her eyes forward, away from him. When she wished she wasn't so alone, she didn't wish for a stalker.

The man raises his eyebrows, and replies, "You called me here."

"I don't need your pickup lines, stalker-san."

"Stalker?!"

She feels vaguely smug, breaking his intent gaze on her with that incredulous look on his face. She still hopes he'll leave her alone though. For both their sakes. "Yes, so please leave before the police or something worse comes after you."

She looks to the window to her right, no black car yet, but they must be keeping watch. In a second, however, she feels the weight of his gaze gone. She turns cautiously to her left, and he is nowhere. She doesn't bother to look for him, though it unsettles her she didn't sense him leave.

She feels a chill, and she looks back across the street. A few moments later, the familiar black Porsche is there for her. Her senses are fine, she concludes.

She takes one last look at the cake, then gestures for the waitress. It's time to go.


	2. Wish II

**Chapter 2: Wish II**

Miyano Shiho is back at her flat, feeling quite hollow. She asks herself, is this what being old is about? But, really, she just misses her sister. It's her birthday—how much do the gods hate her to take this one day from them?

She places the box with the cake her sister picked for her on the table. She opens it carefully, with a forlorn look. Maybe, if she wished hard enough, her sister will visit her here. After all, she did wish for company when she blew the candle earlier, and she received it, albeit in the form of a stalker that, thankfully, left her in peace after her tried-and-tested lines to shoo away unwanted attention. Maybe her wish just had to be specific.

While she learned not to hope, it was hard not to when it concerns her sister. Her heart warms a bit. She feels like a kid but she lights the candle anyway.

She smiles at how silly she must look. She closes her eyes. "I wish my sister will spend my birthday with me." She blows the candle.

Eyes still closed, she waits for the ring of the bell. Or her phone.

She struggles to keep the smile on her face. Her shoulders droop. She releases a breath she didn't know she was holding, almost a sigh. I'm so stupid, she thinks. Gods don't exist, and if they did, she reckons, they won't hear wishes upon a measly half-burnt candle.

She opens her eyes. She blinks twice. And her eyes open a bit more than usual.

 _The stalker is here!_

Several thoughts go over her head and she doesn't know what to think but her body goes on auto and she drags the man to her bathroom where she's sure there aren't any bugs, locks the door and tries to calm the fear in her heart.

 _He's going to die._

 _They've seen him. I know they're keeping watch over me. They've seen him. He's going to die._

 _Unless he's from the organization. That would explain how I can't catch his sneaking around._

A different terror grips her.

 _But I don't know him. Still, a lecherous man possibly from the organization, and I just locked myself in the bathroom with him—_

He slams his right hand against the door, trapping her. Instantly, she gets herself together. After all, nothing can be worse than Gin. She turns and looks at him straight in the eye.

She plainly states, "You have no business being here." At the back of her mind, she's praying her tone is as flat as she usually uses. She can't really hear herself over her heartbeat.

"Then why did you call me?"

"Stalker-san, nobody called you." She's starting to relax, and she's not so sure if that's good. He raises his brow at her reply though, but she cuts him off before he can say anything. "Look, if you're from the organization, you have absolutely no business being here. I wasn't informed of a guard, and there is zero need for one. Not here."

The look of utter confusion in his face scares her; she doesn't want more dead bodies.

"If you don't understand anything about what I just said, please just leave. And pray, if you're religious. You're going to need it if you want to live through this night alive. I'm not someone you should have wanted to talk to."

Their gazes lock, and she hopes her silent plea reaches him. Her senses are fine, and she didn't feel a chill from him. He must be innocent. As innocent a stalker can be, she corrects herself, but she wouldn't wish the organization on anybody.

"Stalker-san, leave. And just so you know, you're not winning any hearts, trapping me like this. I find this kabedon girls' manga trope very cheesy."

He scoffs at her obvious attempt to make him stop staring at her, and he hates to admit it, but it works because he couldn't help but break his observance to roll his eyes.

"You must have summoned me using the candle," he starts, "or the cake. Happy birthday by the way."

Her eyes bug a little and her brows rise, and she hates herself a little for sounding so ineloquent but all she can manage to say is, "Excuse me?"

"Am I wrong?"

Since he asked in a tone that clearly expressed that he didn't think he is, she narrows her eyes and answers acerbically, "Yes, because I did not summon you here."

Almost preaching, he recites, "'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"

"And the impossible is..?"

He deadpans, "That I'm a stalker."

She struggles not to sigh. "I'd say it's highly likely you are one. Don't worry, you're not the first one."

Surprisingly for her, he looks very confident, and he challenges her, "Then, I'll prove it. I'll leave right now and you go and blow that candle again."

This time, she laughs, and says, "Right, please do, off you go." When she remembers where they are though, she suddenly doesn't feel so entertained anymore. "But don't go through the front. I'd say you have better chances leaving here through the fire exit. Or however it is you managed to slip in anyway. I won't ask: it's better that way."

Something grips him. Maybe it's the way her voice suddenly turns steely, or maybe it was how, in the short span he's seen her, she can look completely cut off that he knows he is here for a reason. Or maybe because it's been a while since he's actually enjoyed talking to someone.

Either way, he likes seeing her surprised, rather than having that empty look on her face. He leans forward, closer to her, just to get under her skin, really, and it works spectacularly, with her raising her brows at him, eyes seething with emotions, lips looking as if it'd permanently be in a scowl. She steps back, just a little since she's still trapped between the door and him, and she crosses her arms tighter to hug her body.

He whispers, "I'm going."

In one swift, graceful motion, she fetches the small gun she's been taught to always carry and hide, pulls the safety off and points the barrel straight to the stalker's chest. "One more of your antics, and I'll willingly send you to your death. I'm playing nice right now, but do get it in your head that I can kill you. I'm not a helpless little girl."

Death, huh, he thinks. _I wish._ He backs off. He raises his hands in surrender, but not forgetting to reiterate his point, "Try blowing the candle, though. And you'll know I'm right."

Her pointed stare makes it clear she is not amused. He's a bit uneasy, he didn't want to scare her. "Again, I'm not a stalker. And you're not my type, sorry."

"That's very convincing coming from a trespasser who seems to enjoy close proximity with me."

"You're the one who dragged me here."

"I'm beginning to wish I hadn't and just let you die out there."

"I doubt anything outside can kill me."

"That's because you don't know what you just got yourself into."

"Regardless, I doubt I can be so easily killed. You do realize I was summoned here. By you. And if you're a normal person that makes me what?"

"A delusional stalker."

"Seriously? We're on this again?"

"Yes, so leave already."

"You know what, yes, I'm leaving and don't you dare close your eyes within these five seconds." He's exasperated. And he doesn't want to admit he's only leaving now because she's talking to him again. Before she blinks though, he does leave…

He just disappeared.

Into thin air.

On Miyano Shiho's birthday, she thinks she might have just gone crazy without her sister.


	3. Interlude I

**Chapter 3: Interlude I**

Miyano Shiho is a scientist. She prides herself for approaching problems and curiosities logically and methodically. However irrational the situation is, she is certain she can adapt and make sense of it.

But is it possible she has lost her mind? She witnessed a man disappear in front of her eyes. Her family has no history of mental instability as far as she knows, though she guesses anyone would break given her circumstances. But she has never shown any sign of insanity. Or maybe she has been desensitized to madness given her environment?

 _Calm down, Shiho, panic never did anyone any good. Breathe in, breathe out._

 _Okay, acknowledge that insanity is a possibility. Best to think of other possibilities._

She remembers the cake and the candle and she automatically rejects the thought that the man that just disappeared was summoned by her birthday wish.

But really, she can't think of any other option. It's either she's crazy or he's right. She doesn't know which one she prefers.

She gathers her bearings and gets out of her bathroom. She sits, looking dazedly at the table all the while. She idly thinks, maybe I should make him wait 'til I summon him.

She hates that she thinks he's right.

He might as well wait for a few hours before she tries it again. He did irritate her after all. Maybe that will teach him not to mess with her.

Okay, this feels weird, she thinks. She thinks she's accepting this too easily, and it makes her feel off-balance, recognizing that she's suddenly making way for the entrance of a person to her life. Teach him not to mess with her? Because he'll have opportunities to do so? The organization won't allow for this kind of daydream.

It's her birthday, though, so she shakes it off, and makes herself believe she'll be blowing that candle later for science. She proceeds to try to not think of anything for the next few hours.


	4. Interlude II

**Chapter 4: Interlude II**

Kudo Shinichi has been juggling a soccer ball for quite some time now. He started when he grew tired of pacing back and forth and around his study, which he did when he decided standing extra haughtily to rub in that he's right when he does get summoned looks stupid when he did it for 30 minutes and that woman didn't summon him.

 _Or maybe she couldn't? She did say she wasn't calling him there. And how does she even do it? Is she, perhaps…_

 _...Or maybe something happened to her? There was an undercurrent of fear in her everything, except for a moment then. Seems like she's heavily guarded if even her living room isn't safe._

 _She mentioned an organisation and surveillance. She's either a very important member, or a very important hostage. Given her gun training, it's more likely she's part of it. But…_

 _Either way, a highly valuable asset of a sinister-sounding group which seemingly kills threats on sight._

Perhaps he's been disinterested in the world for too long. For him not to notice trouble brewing in his own city… maybe his senses are getting rusty? Or is the organisation not as big and threatening as she had made it appear? The gravity of her stare, the firmness of her grip on the gun against his chest, pointer on the trigger, safety off—

It's late and he idly thinks that he should have just went back to whatever party his retainer, Agasa-hakase, forced him to attend. To give him a break from his hermitry, he said. Well, that certainly happened today, no thanks to the party. No one would notice him, he said. Shinichi sincerely hopes no one had been watching him when he disappeared out of the blue. Twice.

 _Wretched woman, why don't you just blow the damn candle already so I can stop dwelling, change and sleep?!_


	5. Leave I

**Chapter 5: Leave I**

It's been weeks since Kudo Shinichi has seen the woman, and he likes to think that encounter was a boredom-induced fever dream.

He says to himself he could try to find her, but he doesn't want to. After all, the restaurant where they first met is also one he goes to. His visits there have been especially frequent the past few weeks—not because he wants to see her, of course, but because he really missed their coffee there, he reasons to himself.

He could try to find where she lives, but when so much as a thought crosses his mind, he hears her call him "Stalker-san" in such an annoying lilt that a scowl automatically shows itself on his face. It is not because he can't deduce where she lives when her curtains were all closed and all she mentioned was there was a fire exit.

Not that he asked Agasa-hakase to find her. Agasa-hakase is doing that on his own. Okay, he cedes, he did ask Agasa-hakase to find her but not because he's worried. Only to know if she really did try summoning him and failed, in which case, he was wrong. And knowing when one is wrong is of utmost importance!

So, the woman and their meeting was a boredom-induced fever dream.

Finally getting up and leaving the restaurant where all his current troubles started, he resolves to go home and forget about it for the seventh time that day. His hand approaches the door—

And suddenly he's face-to-face with the woman he has not been searching for. At all. Nope.

He would have laughed at how hard he's trying to deny everything, but the moment their eyes met, the flash of surprise on her face, that really isn't that cute, he tells himself, was wiped from his mind when she started crying and laughing in this awful, broken way. She's gripping the just blown candle like a lifeline, smoke quickly clearing and he can't look away.

He doesn't know how long it took, but she calms down.

"You're right," she finally says, "I blow a candle, and you'll appear."

He realises he doesn't really care that he's right. "Admitting that made you cry that much?"

She ignores him. Instead, she asks, "So, what are you?"

"I'll answer if you tell me what happened."

"Care to be more specific?"

"Why didn't you call me right away that night? Why were you crying? And," he looks around him, "why are we in a lab?"

"You sound like a detective—"

"Because I am."

"—or a ghosted date, with that first question of yours."

"Ugh, shut up."

"If I do, you won't get the answers you want."

"Woman, don't be difficult. Is this the organisa—"

She visibly shivers, and abruptly says, "Leave."

"You called me here."

"And now I'm telling you to leave."

"Don't be stupid, something's obviously happened."

"And something is about to happen." She opens her drawer and gets a solitary pill from a case and pockets it. She continues, "Leave now, before they see you… or can they? Are you a ghost?"

"Yes, other people can see me. So what if they see me?"

"I'm supposed to be alone," she chuckles darkly.

"I doubt they can do anything to me."

"Leave."

"Okay, but this time promise me you'll call immediately after whatever it is."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Seriously?"

"No."

"Woman."

She looks dead straight into his eyes, "Goodbye, stalker-san."

"Whatever, see you in a bit, smartass, stuck-up, evil-eyed woman!"

A small smile breaks on her face, and he thinks maybe he should call her names more often if that's what happens when he does. Because her being silent is preferable to her acerbic replies, of course, not because of anything else.

Oh right, her name, what is it?

Just as he was about to ask her, she turns around to face the door, arms crossed, hands clutching her lab coat and, the door unlocks with a beep—

"Sherry."

A dark gravelly voice was the last thing he heard before he left. A sinking feeling he should have just taken her with him and left there together lingers.


	6. Leave II

**Chapter 6: Leave II**

 _She promised me._

It's been days and he hasn't seen her. Deja vu.

 _Except this time, she promised me._

It's raining hard. He's depressed, as much as he wants to deny it. He's been wanting to deny so many things since he met her, and he's tired. He knows he should have just grabbed her and left. He's been amusing himself with the idea that she'll start calling him "Kidnapper-san" but then his mind wanders if she really did get kidnapped by that voice that called her "Sherry". Then he gets depressed all over again.

Agasa-hakase found nothing on "Sherry".

No records. No leads. No tracks. Nothing.

How do you find a woman that doesn't exist?

He, the Goblin, the man cursed by the gods with immortality and powers he did not want. Powers that can grant immense wealth, decimate a city, and even affect life, but are apparently not enough to locate a single human.

He, the Goblin, cursed to watch people pass with time, forced to live as discreetly and nomadically as he can. With as few attachments as he can. But he goes and associates with that woman, that strange girl who can call him with a candle.

And he loses her, like he has lost many others, but in record time.

Days like these, when his everyday numbness makes way for several lifetimes worth of self-hate and hopelessness, the sword, the seal of his curse, throbs painfully in his chest. But he cannot die. He cannot die. Even when he tried. Until he can find his Bride, who can free him from his curse of a life. Until his Bride can take out the sword impaled on his chest, which only him and his Bride can see.

If he could not find his Bride, one he has been searching for all these centuries, he doubts he can find that woman.

For someone so powerful, it has been a long while since he felt so helpless. He laughs bitterly at the irony of all these.

Dark clouds loom even heavier, and lightning strikes in the distance.

His self-loathing worsens the weather. Another power he does not want. A curse.

His life is.

He hears Agasa-hakase's footsteps, and he can already imagine him knocking and begging Shinichi to stop moping. He shouts, "I know, I know! I'll get myself together and stop making it rain."

Agasa-hakase replies, to his surprise, "Ah, no, Shinichi-kun, there's a kid that's collapsed outside our gate! I took her in but she's burning up..." His voice is trailing as he goes in different rooms and rummages through drawers.

Shinichi feels a tug in his heart. Somehow, it feels like he's responsible for the kid. Is it his conscience berating him for making it rain and rendering a kid helpless under the torrid rain?

He gets up and leaves his room. He follows the sound of the professor's hectic footsteps and reaches the room where the kid is.

"Ah, Shinichi-kun, we've run out of fever medicine, so I'll be leaving in a bit to buy. Do you have anything you'd like for me to pick up on the way? ...Shinichi-kun?"

Shinichi is frozen in place, staring at the shivering, unconscious girl laid on the bed in front of him.

The spitting image of the woman. Except a kid. Her sister?

Agasa-hakase's voice reaches him, and he snaps back from his thoughts. "Shinichi-kun? Do you know her?"

"...No." He continues to stare. "...But she looks like that woman."

"You mean, the woman we can't find any traces of?"

"Yes, 'Sherry'."

"But Shinichi-kun, I thought we were talking about a teenager, not—"

"—Not a kid, yes, but she really looks like her. She's either a relative or… this is all just a coincidence and I'm going crazy." He turns to the professor, "Either way, I can't get any answers from an unconscious kid. I'll watch over her until you come back, professor."

The professor agrees, and thanks him as he wears his coat, umbrella almost forgotten in his rush. Shinichi sits down in the chair next to the bed where she lays. Outside, the torrid rain settled into a light drizzle.

She doesn't wake up until the next day.

* * *

 **A/N** _If you haven't guessed it yet, the AU is Goblin, the Korean drama that I loved but never finished! XD And wow, this was a ride to write, I think this is my longest piece ever! Last part is the epilogue!_


	7. Converge

**Epilogue: Converge**

A little girl opens her eyes to a foreign ceiling, and suddenly feels how different the bed she's lying in feels. Then it hits her, she ran away. She ran away and she's alive. She wonders if she's lucky—is surviving better than dying when her world is empty, her own self stained black, blood in her hands indistinguishable from her victims, her own and her sister's…

No shivers—looks like she's safe from the organisation for now, she thinks, but best to be careful. She takes in the rest of the room, and, when her gaze finally rests to her left, her eyes bug, and she doesn't know what to feel.

"Good morning."

She doesn't say anything. She stares at the man by her bedside, voice caught in her throat.

He reaches towards her. She flinches, but his movements are quick, his touch light. The man's hand is big against her small forehead. "Your fever's gone down."

Of all the questions in her mind, she asks, "Are you my guardian angel?"

Kudo Shinichi isn't the type to be so touchy, but such an innocent question from a little girl makes him ruffle her hair and chuckle. "Why do you think so?"

She sits up, carefully, and he assists her. She reaches towards him so he leans closer to the bed, and then, she places her hand on his cheek. He's confused as hell but she looks like she's concentrating, thinking, and it looks adorable, so he stays still.

She pinches him. Hard. "Ow!"

Not minding him, she asks, "If so, then why can I touch you? Am I the only one that can?"

He'd be angry if he isn't so amused. Rubbing his cheek, he denies, "I'm not an angel."

"Then what are you? How did you find me?"

"You collapsed in front of my home."

The girl's eyes widen a bit, her eyebrows raised in surprise. In a second, she lowers her eyes, not quite seeing anything, her tiny right hand poised on her chin and cheek in what Shinichi assumes is her thinking pose. She doesn't say anything for a while.

He prods, "Do you have anyone we can contact?"

She doesn't respond.

"Perhaps, your mother? Father? Sister?"

On his last word, he catches a glimpse of emotion in her eyes, gone quickly like many of her, and _her_ , reactions.

She looks at him and says, "They're all dead."

Rain pours, and in a moment, loud thunder breaks their gazes. She looks away, turning instead to the window, and continues, "I have no one left."

This rouses the frozen Shinichi. He wasn't—isn't called a detective for no reason. The woman could be this kid's aunt or niece or be completely unrelated... no matter how improbable. It isn't impossible after all.

"No other relatives?" he asks, almost with bated breath, almost wishing she'd remember one, the woman, the woman, remember her...

"None..."

The little girl watches as the rain worsens into a deluge, big splatters on the window blurring the view outside. As bleak as her future from hereon, she thinks. But at least it's not black.

She feels empty.

The rain lets up a bit.

"Don't worry," he says, breaking the silence. She almost forgot he was there. She turns to him.

"Don't worry," he continues, "I'll find her."

Eyes resolute, he gazes at her with a conviction she wishes she has. Confused at his words, though, she asks, "Her?"

"Ah, a relative. Unless I confirm it myself, it's too early to judge it as true."

He's strangely adamant about finding her relatives. Almost a bit desperate. "If I don't know about them, I doubt they'd know about me."

"But just finding them would be good, no?"

 _Is he trying to get rid of me?_ "I'm a burden. I understand." _I would have appreciated a straightforward comment, honestly._

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Visibly frazzled, he slams his hands on the bed when scratching his head for answers didn't work. She scoots just a bit farther from the edge where he's acting up, clutching the blankets closer to her. "But we'll find her, I'm sure."

"Okay, Stalker-san, whatever you say..." She'll have to go soon. Can't have the organization discovering this place and whoever—whatever—this man is.

"Mmhmm. Don't worry okay? ...Wait." He freezes up. "What did you just call me?"

And it suddenly dawns on her why Stalker-san is so insistent on finding her relatives. And why he isn't asking anything about what happened since they last met. He doesn't recognize her. He doesn't recognize her because she turned into a kid.

She laughs.

"Stalker-san? Did you just call me Stalker-san?" He's completely bewildered now, she can only imagine what his face would look like if she told him what really happened.

Should she lie? Tell the truth? Would he even believe her if she did?

"Yes, Stalker-san."

Tentatively, he asks, "Did you… did your sister tell you to call me that?"

"No, she would never. She'd laugh if I told you I call you that though." Akemi-neechan would also tease her to death but, hey, she doesn't need to tell him that.

"Is it because... she calls me that?"

 _Does he think I'm… that my teen self is my sister?_ She laughs harder.

"Hey, kid!"

Speaking between giggles, she answers him, "No. No, she doesn't."

"Eh?"

She decides she can tell him. Not that he'd believe her. Or anyone would believe him if he told. "You're my Stalker-san. I'm the woman you were stalking. Except now I'm a kid. So you'd be charged with even more crimes if you continue stalking me, uncle."

"Eh? Then you're… Eh?"

"Yes, Stalker-san. And what the hell, you do cosplay even indoors? Stalker-san, I don't know if you're good or bad, or what you actually are, but you're certainly weird."

"Cosplay? What is it now, woman—or, kid? Ugh!"

His befuddled face is so comical, it's insane. She laughs. Outside the rain has stopped.

She continues, "Yeah, do you really have to keep that sword stuck in your chest even at home?"

He freezes up. She's confused. Suddenly it isn't so funny anymore.

A flash of light. And roaring thunder.

"What?" He asks her, unsmiling, staring straight into her eyes. It makes her nervous. Perhaps she shouldn't have questioned his fashion choices, his quirks…

"Nothing."

"You can see the sword?"

Shouldn't she?

"Woman, you can see the sword?"

She realized then she had taken for granted his comforting, familiar presence. He's intimidating. But she had faced worse.

"What if I can?"

Another flash of light and deafening thunder.

 _He cannot die. Even when he tried. Until he can find his Bride, who can free him from his curse of a life. Until his Bride can take out the sword impaled on his chest, which only him and his Bride can see._

* * *

 **A/N** _And... that's the end of this madness! XD I wish someone stuck through to the end XD XD XD_


	8. Extra

_**A/N** This was supposed to be a late birthday gift from me to me! TAT It's months too late for that though, so let me just pretend this is something I wrote for White Day, ha ha ha._

 _Happy White Day, everyone!_

* * *

"Hakase, you did bring your wallet, right?"

If the guy who had just walked by the vegetable section were asked what he'd just seen in an otherwise dreary day, he would say this: A little girl and her grandfather were standing near the block of legumes, their shopping cart parked to the side, stacked with all sorts of meat cuts, packets and bottles of spices and seasonings snuck into the spaces among a select few cans and bags of grains, topped with an assortment of fruits and vegetables and a carton of eggs.

It would have been a cute scene, but the girl had been glaring at her apologetic-looking grandfather, and the poor old man kept on shifting his eyes and scratching his cheek, his face showing an awkward, placating smile. How are they raising such rude kids these days?! Clearly, the kid had been throwing a tantrum since her grandfather wouldn't let her sneak in a snack or two!

And so the guy had walked by, shaking his head slightly as he made his way over to the checkout counter. A pity that none of the story he would tell his brother waiting at home would be true, except the part where a little girl had been glaring at a poor old man.

A pity as well that he had stopped observing the two, or even, just the girl, since the girl would go on to sigh, and if he knew her and had been as observant as a certain detective, he would have noticed how she had sighed just a bit more dramatically than she would have, which is one of the more telling clues that she completely expected this turn of events, if not orchestrated the whole thing, really. If he had closely followed her out the store—which is a hundred percent creepy thing to do to strangers, much less kids—he would have seen her try to inconspicuously slip into an alley. And then, he would have seen her take out a candle and a disposable lighter.

If he did, then perhaps at that point, the police would have come, either to apprehend him for stalking a kid, or her for suspected attempted arson, or both. But he didn't, so he didn't see the girl as she blew the light of the candle away almost as soon as she lit it. He didn't, so he didn't see a man appear out of nowhere as soon as she did.

Because that's what Shinichi Kudo did—he materialized out of thin air the moment the candlelight had been extinguished.

If his dark blue checkered flannel pajamas, house slippers and bed hair aren't sufficient evidence that he clearly had not been intending to perform a magic trick, instantaneously manifesting in front of an unsuspecting audience like a prop in a horror house, then the toothbrush he'd been holding to his mouth would certainly prove so. The surprise in his eyes would do too, had it lasted on his face for more than a second, but perhaps his current expression of this-again-really-oh-god-why-me is a better proof that if anyone can be described as _unsuspecting_ here, it would be him, the _unsuspecting_ victim to this _malefic_ little devil in the guise of a doe-eyed strawberry blonde girl.

The villainous imp had the gall to remark, just a few beats after he appeared: "Hmm, I should have done this earlier so I'd know if it works when you're sleeping. Next time, next time..."

"Really?" was all Shinichi could reply to that, hoping that he had been able to project as much of his ire as possible in his tone in that one word, astounded as he was with his fate being stuck to a freaking demon as his Bride.

Maybe this is how he'd been cursed to die—angered to death with non-answers, or with experiments and summoning (the two concepts are practically inseparable now—a normality which should be _unthinkable_ and _ridiculous_ —because of a certain pocket-sized fiend) that commence _without_ warning at _ungodly_ hours for the _most worthless_ of reasons.

Shinichi concludes that he did _not_ get his irritation across when Miyano Shiho, the literal bane of his existence even in the pint-size version of her body, tells him, "Hakase forgot his wallet again."

" _You_ , too! _You_ forgot _again_ too! _You_ should have remembered to remind him!"

"Don't be so hysterical. Anyway... pay for it?"

"...While I'm like _this_?!"

"You could give me cash, and I'd do it myself."

"You think I brought cash."

"Nope!"

"... I'm going home."

"Okay, see you in five minutes!"

If she thought smiling cutely and doing that small wave shyly like a good kid disguised that evil glint in her eyes that told Shinichi she had planned the entire thing and she would certainly summon him _again_ after the _exact_ five minutes he had been _graciously_ given, she was wrong. In any case, she wasn't wrong, because Shinichi knew she didn't do that for disguise; she did that to taunt him because damn that woman knew _he_ knew and was completely _unapologetic_ about it.

Shinichi sighs as he teleports back to his mansion, finishes brushing, changes out of his nightwear with a snap, picks up his wallet and, well, stops the moping he'd been doing, now instead staring at the sky clearing up as he waits out the few seconds 'til his five minutes are up. Might as well have her wait for the entire five, right?

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Just a few days after Shinichi had been summoned to pay for groceries, Miyano summons him to Teitan Elementary School.

Him. In Teitan. Elementary. School.

Freaking summoned him during lunch in the freaking rooftop that apparently did not have a freaking working lock so freaking kids who are not freaking known for keeping their freaking mouths shut can just see him appearing and disappearing like a freaking 3D projection from the freaking cloudy sky.

Whoever touted Miyano as a genius should be put in jail for freaking perjury.

"I forgot my lunch," she says.

I forgot my lunch, _your ass!_

"Whatever! I'm leaving!"

"I'll be hungry."

"Woman. You could have sent a mail. You did _not_ have to do _this_."

"But summoning is faster?"

"And it pisses me off."

"Of course, that too."

"You're really saying that to someone you're asking a favor from."

"Teacher says honesty is a good trait."

"Not when you're being obnoxious."

" _'The best policy,'_ she says."

"Right. So what's your experiment about this time?"

"Distance. Even this far, the candle works."

"...Here's not that far from home."

"...Yeah. Even this _close_ , the candle works."

"You know, I'm going home after all."

"Okay, be back in a minute? I'm hungry."

A big sigh, and a, "Yeah, _yeah_ ," before Shinichi poofs out of the rooftop and into the mansion. He takes a quick look in the kitchen and immediately spots a bright pink furoshiki in the middle of the front counter. Another big sigh, _I forgot my lunch, your ass!_ indeed.

When he gets back, Miyano's already sitting down, her hand extended towards him. He hands over her lunch, and he hears a quiet, "Thanks."

Well. Shinichi guesses he doesn't have anything better to do today, so he might as well just stay. Lunch in her first day as an elementary school student _again_ must be boring.

And no one's coming up anyway. Leave it to salt queen Miyano to scare away the kids in barely half a day, he idly thinks.

He sighs, he should have picked up something for lunch too, so he could eat together with her.

"I'm not giving you any of mine," she says, suddenly stopping her chopsticks midway to her mouth, when she spots him looking at her.

"I'm not asking for any!"

She smirks, and goes back to eating. Shinichi settles down beside her, lying with his arms folded behind his head as he muses how Miyano, infuriating as she is, has good taste—the view from the rooftop is calming, an expanse of busy outlines under the sky's now-radiant blue. The light breeze is cool enough to keep the stay comfortable, and the stray strands from Miyano's otherwise carefully permed and styled hair, exactly the same as it had been the first time he met her, swaying when it blows and sticking out when it stops is amusing enough too.

He decides his lunch can wait after he's done with his devil-sitting for the day. For now, he'll stay. The view's great after all.

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Before, Miyano had usually summoned Shinichi while on store runs (and when coming across crime scenes, but he actually doesn't mind those so they don't count) with Hakase forgetting his wallet or the two of them getting _lost_ , every single time with reasons growing more and more ridiculous until it cycles back to the more believable ones.

Now, on top of those times (which he swears are _frustrating_ and the most _gratuitous_ use of a power he'd ever known), ever since Miyano started going to Teitan Elementary School, he finds himself an almost-student as well, since he spends so much time in there. He's summoned almost thrice a week, in various places in the school, for forgotten homework (which he knows she doesn't care one bit about), forgotten pencil or notebook or book, most common of all _forgotten_ things is her _forgotten_ lunch. Of course, she claims these are all opportunities for her _experiments_. Which she stresses he should be grateful for.

Experiments to test his patience, more likely.

And, she never even drops a call or message in advance! Shinichi being the genius that he is, he has quickly learned to be always immaculately dressed, and to always bring a lunch set of his own when _forgets_ hers.

Not that Miyano ever showed appreciation for his efforts past that single whisper of thanks!

Today, a rainy day, Miyano summons Shinichi. She says she forgot her umbrella.

Shinichi, who has always claimed he's the _only_ genius between the two of them, says, "Let's go, I'll 'port us home."

Of course, Miyano would say, "No, get me my umbrella." Of course, of course, if he's the only genius between the two of them, what does that make her? Clue: she wants an umbrella to walk home in the rain, when she can instantly get home anyway.

Before Shinichi can say how much of an idiot he thinks she's being, she's able to read what he wanted to say on his face. At least that's what he thinks, since she sighs, ever so dramatically as always whenever she cooks up her schemes, as she says, "Don't you know walking is good for the health. Maybe that's why you're old and wrinkly, your powers spoil you."

 _I'm old and wrinkly?!_

 _My powers_ spoil _me?!_

 _Oh, God, this woman really will be the end of me._

"Brat! If you get sick, don't blame me."

"That's precisely why I'm asking you to get me my umbrella."

"Yeah, yeah, _fine_ , I _will_!"

Just to spite Miyano, Shinichi decides to make her wait for a few more minutes after he gets her damned pink polka-dot umbrella and his simple, black, very new, very classy, very _young_ and trendy umbrella. His plan doesn't last for long though, since he sees the rain intensify, and he teleports back to her.

When Shinichi comes back, the rain is pouring even harder, and Haibara is scowling deeper.

"… Are you angry?" she asks, after staring at him (for a moment too long, in his opinion).

"Of course I am, spoiled brat! I'm not your servant!"

"... Then, I don't need it. Leave."

 _Wait, what?_ "... What's with you today? Hey, wait for me, you'll get soaked!"

But Miyano has already started running, her hand shielding her eyes from the rain. Shinichi clicks his tongue and hurriedly opens his umbrella, then instantaneously catches up to her.

He holds her shoulder to keep her from moving beyond the cover of the umbrella, but her hair's already all wet and sticking to her forehead and neck, her clothes drenched. What his gaze lingers on though is how her eyebrows are drawn together, her glare and the grimace right before she says, "If you don't want to do it, don't do it."

 _This woman who is usually so thick-skinned and wouldn't care an iota if he didn't want to do anything, is now angry because_ he _'s angry?_

 _Why did she even think he—_ oh.

 _Oh, that makes sense._

 _That makes_ perfect _sense._

 _Seems Miyano_ can _be cute sometimes._

 _Whoa, cursed thought, go away._

With his sudden realization, he grins. _This will be interesting._ He starts, "You think I'm angry because it's raining?"

"Well, duh, your mood inconveniences _everyone everyday_ , right? How can I ever forget?"

A wider grin. "You summoned me today to cheer me up."

"I did no such thing." _Eyes quickly averting, check._

An even wider grin. "You've been calling me out on cloudy days for the same reason."

"I did _no such thing_." _Arms crossed to complete the indignant look, check._

The grin stays, but this time, his tone is softer, when he says, "And you're acting out now because you think you made it worse."

" _I. Did. Not._ " _Bratty pout, check._

 _Really, guilty as guilty can be._ Miyano Shiho, the fiend who, moments into their first meeting, had already mastered the art of antagonizing him, and is still constantly refining said art, actually had been trying to comfort him or at least distract him from what Hakase calls brooding and what he calls contemplating.

Shinichi would laugh out loud at the incredulity of this just established fact.

In fact, he is.

It's not too long before he reigns himself in though, since they're in the middle of a terrible downpour, and one of them is wet enough to get sick as it is. So, in a bid to finally get her cooperation to leave as soon as possible, he explains as briefly as he could, "Miyano, today's a normal rainy day."

"... What?"

"It _can_ rain without _'my mood inconveniencing everyone everyday'_."

"..."

"You really shouldn't forget to check the weather forecast."

"..."

A chuckle manages to escape from Shinichi when Miyano's face sours even more. And she's speechless! This is an absolute gold mine! Though, thinking she'd make more trouble if he teased her now, he just says, "Let's go home?"

"... Whatever." She's still not looking at him. He successfully manages to stifle his chuckles. He thinks she knows how much he's dying of laughter inside anyway.

As soon as Shinichi teleports them to the safety of the Kudo mansion, Miyano makes a beeline for the shower and, right after, locks herself in her room. Dinner was a quiet affair, with Hakase picking up on a subtle change between them, curious but not asking.

The next few days are full of sunshine and clear skies.

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After the first few days of sunny skies, clouds gradually blot the sky. A week passes by, and then two, and now the third week had started and is about to end in an increasingly heavy gray haze, sunlight barely passing through a cheerless blanket of clouds for consecutive days.

The weather forecast for today is sunny. Like yesterday and the day before and the day before the day before, Shiho checked.

Shiho hasn't summoned Stalker-san for a few weeks now. Given how dark the days seem to be recently, she figures he's probably learned his lesson _not_ to question her _scientific_ pursuits, and to stop trying to read a different, but _completely fictional_ and _non-existent_ hidden purpose of sorts to whatever her experiments lead her to do.

Aside, from, of course, it being convenient since she does tend to forget so many _unimportant_ things when she leaves the mansion.

Now, though, while sitting on the swing in the park on the way home, watching the hues of the sky turn to darker and darker orange, the sun completely out of view, her mind goes back to her _forgotten_ bag in her classroom.

This can't do, she has homework after all.

Oh, but she's already so far from the school, _how inconvenient!_

She reaches into her pockets and takes out a tiny candle and lighter.

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Shinichi had been dragging his feet to the kitchen, about to go get a glass of water, when, the moment after his eyes open when he blinked, he found himself in the neighborhood park, in front of a little girl sitting on the swing, her tiny hands gripping the chains, wearing the most innocent smile he had ever seen in any child, or person, ever. The light from the sunset slipping through the parting clouds dye her hair in oranges and reds, brighter and brighter the longer he stares.

Not that he stares for long, since the almost-angelic smile quickly turns into a devilish smirk fit for the little demon sprite that Miyano actually is.

"What is it this time?"

"I left my bag at school."

He sighs, his hands on his hips, grumbling, "You're always so forgetful. Are you sure you didn't take that drug of yours multiple times—you know, when you turned 80 or something, since your memory's worse than Hakase's..."

"It's under my desk."

Another sigh, "Yeah, alright." And he's gone.

Before Miyano can appreciate the excellent view of the sunset from the park, Shinichi returns, her bag in his hands, and he holds it out to her. She just stands and starts the walk home without him, Shinichi a good three seconds late in complaining after her, "You just wanted someone to bring your bag for you!"

"Perfect deduction, detective!" she praises without looking at him, and Shinichi is _not_ happy.

He catches up to her quickly and falls into step beside her, the late afternoon wind just warm enough for the walk home.

For the first time in weeks, the stars shimmer in the sky in full view.

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Shinichi is waiting for Miyano to summon him since it's one of those days where she _quite inconveniently forgot_ her lunch _again_ in her _haste_ to leave after their breakfast… but the clock ticks past her lunch break and she hasn't.

He _grudgingly_ prepares to go to her school, one by one checking the places where he'd previously been summoned. Halfway through his mental list of locations, his intuition screams that _something_ 's wrong, but he stubbornly completes his tour, in admittedly half the time it would have taken him.

 _She isn't here._

Just before the familiar feeling of what he refuses to acknowledge as panic sets in, he blinks and he finds himself in an alley.

He's been summoned, but it isn't in a cubicle or closet at school, it's the backstreet he'd been summoned to once or twice before in one of Miyano and Hakase's trips to some store where they forgot something somehow or the other _again_ —

But more importantly, in front of him, she's crouching down, all folded up on herself, trembling, the candle and lighter dropping from her quivering hands as soon as he appeared.

 _What happened?_

She's shaking.

She isn't looking at him.

He touches her shoulder, and her tiny body slightly jumps at the contact before it relaxes.

She starts trembling less.

After giving her a quick once-over, Shinichi concludes she isn't hurt, just scared. Intuition tells him there's no one to beat up, not that there are signs of anyone besides the two of them having been in the alley.

His sight obviously informs him that there's someone to comfort though, but it's not an aspect that he particularly excels at or has practice in.

Well. He can't _not_ try when…

"Why didn't you call me sooner?" _Was that too casual? Did she think I was scolding her? What happened?_

Nothing from her. _Hey, look at me._

"You forgot your lunch." _Look at me. Then you'll know I brought it. Miyano, what happened?_

Still nothing from her. _Miyano._

"Silly woman, am I your chauffeur?" _Miyano, look at me._

Still, nothing. _Miyano, I'm already here._

 _She isn't looking._

Shinichi, stumped for any solution or any way of consolation, resolves to just teleport the two of them back home, and, hopefully, him and Hakase can figure this out, or at least tide it over. Sighing, he says, more as a warning, since he's not really expecting answer, "Alright, alright, let's just go home."

Since she isn't moving, he's the one who moves instead. He picks her up: his right arm that had been holding her left shoulder slides over her hunched shoulders, his right hand now gripping her right upper arm instead, and his left arm slips under the back of her knees, his left hand still holding her forgotten lunch.

He gets up like this, and this time, she looks at him.

And then, still trembling, she winds her arms around his neck, burying her face in the crook of it.

 _It's warm._

They stay like that a while.

When Shinichi adjusts his hold on her, her grasp tightens a bit too.

When they reach home, she isn't trembling anymore.

* * *

 _ **A/N** In case you've forgotten, Shinichi's mood affects the weather as part of his Goblin powers._

 _And, yes, this chapter, which is Shiho summoning Goblin!Shinichi for just about anything, was actually the fic I wanted to write for the AU prompt last CoAi Week, but I got caught up imagining how they would meet, which was how those 7 chapters came about._

 _It's not explored well in this chapter (because I wanted this chapter to be all about how Shiho annoys the living hell out of Shin, for his own good, of course), but after Chapter 7, which is where Shiho lets it slip that she can see the sword, Shiho avoids the topic whenever Shinichi or Hakase asks._

 _Obviously, Shinichi knows just from Shiho's reaction, which is why he's being all sad (I think he'd refer to his moping around as "being contemplative"). Even though Shiho knows that Shinichi knows, she still doesn't provide a straight answer because that way they won't have a discussion about it, and they both continue dancing around the topic. Shinichi frets about it when he has time alone._

 _Also, did you catch what happened for Shiho to get all scared like that for the last part of this chapter? If you didn't, then, tada, here's the answer: she saw the black Porsche._

 _Of course this single chapter is as long as half the actual fic. Of course, of course. (Also it's a good thing those seven chapters are too long for me to reread, else I might be tempted to rewrite the entire thing… or just delete it, oops.)_


End file.
